Lifting dolly having a single throw lifting lever and sleeve guide means



3,250,513 LIFTING DOLLY HAVING A SINGLE THROW LIFTING LEVER L S A m5 H M% El R D J E W Em E m F mm M DF R m May 10, 1966 INVENTORS. ROBERT M. FENNER DONALD E. HAMILTON ATTORNEY L S A m5 n M% l R m& m m F mm M m R A May 10, 1966 LIFTING DOLLY HAVING A SINGLE THROW LIFTING LEVE INVENTORS. ROBERT M. FENNER DONALD E. HAMILTON 1&4

ATTORNEY heavy objects or platforms.

United States Patent 3,250,513 LIFTING DOLLY HAViYG A SINGLE THROW LIFTING LEVER AND SLEEVE GUIDE MEANS Robert M. Fenner and Donald E. Hamilton, both of 3200 S. Zuni St., Englewood, Colo. Filed Jan. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 424,322 4 Claims. (Cl. 254-9) This invention relates to dollies for lifting and moving It is more particularly designed for use in gymnasiums for moving gymnastic equipment such as parallel bars, horses, etc. which are usually mounted on flat bases or platforms but is, of course, not limited to this particular use.

The principal object of the invention is to provide simple, sturdy, highly-efficient, wheeled lifting devices which can be easily slipped beneath the opposite extremities of a load such as a base or platform and operated to lift the load upon supporting castors so that the load can be readily moved to any desired floor location and lowered into place.

A further object is to so construct the device that it will be self-attachable to the load and so that it will automatically lock in the raised position so as to support the load without further attention.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

On the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of one of the wheeled lifting dollies in the lowered, load-receiving position;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the dolly in the position of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a similar side elevational view of the dolly in the elevated or load-supporting position; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 44, FIG. 1.

The position of the base or platform or other load to be lifted is indicated on the drawing in broken line at and the position of the floor is indicated by the floor line 11.

The improved lifting dolly employes a horizontal tubular, cross frame member 12 closed at its extremities by plug-like end caps 13 and supported by castor wheels 14. The wheels 14 are rotatably mounted in conventional castor yokes 15 which are journalled by means of ball thrust bearings 16 upon vertical castor posts 17 which pass through the cross frame member, adjacent the extremities of the latter, and which are locked in place by means clamping nuts 18. I

A guide tube 19 is welded to, or otherwise secured to, the cross-frame member 12 at its midpoint and extends vertically downward therefrom to a position above and in spaced-relation to the floor line 11. A guide sleeve 20 surrounds the guide tube 19 and is vertically movable thereon. A V-shaped load fork 21 is welded at its apex, as indicated at 22, to the guide sleeve 20 and extends horizontally'forward therefrom with its two sides in flaring relation. A load-supporting shelf angle 23 is welded, or otherwise secured, at its extremities to the two sides of the load fork 21. The shelf-angle is positioned parallel to the cross frame member 12 and midway between the latter and the forward extremities of the load fork 21 and projects downwardly below the latter with its lower 7 angle legdirected horizontally forward. The forward 3,250,513 Patented May 10, 1966 extremities of the load fork are preferrably provided with rubber, tubular cushioning pads 34.

The guide sleeve 20 can be raised and lowered on the guide tube by means of a rearwardly extending hand lever 24, one extremity of which is pivotally mounted on a pivot bolt 25 extending through a vertically extending ear 26 at the middle of the cross frame member 12. An L-shaped connecting bar 27, having relatively short upper portion turned at an angle to a relatively long lower portion, extends downwardly from a crank bolt 29 on the hand lever 24 to a connecting bolt 30 extending through a rearwardly extending ear 31 on the guide sleeve 20.

- Downward movement of the hand lever 24 is limitedby means of a stop boss 32 on the hand lever which contacts the connecting bar 27 when the hand lever reaches its lowermost (load-receiving) position as shown in FIG. 2. Upward movement of the hand lever is limited by contact of the connecting bar 27 with the vertical- 1y extending ear 26 when the hand lever reaches its uppermost (load carrying) position as shown in FIG. 3. The hand lever 24 is preferrably provided with cushioning hand grip 33.

In use, one extremity of the load 10 is tilted upwardly and the lower horizontal leg of the'shelf angle 23 is run beneath the load with the load fork resting thereon as shown in FIG. 2. If necessary or desirable, a second similar dolly is similarly applied to the opposite extremity of the load 10. The hand lever 24 of each device is now swung upwardly to lift the load onto the caster wheels 14. It will be noted that as the load moves upwardly the shelf angle will pry upwardly on the load While the load fork pries downwardly thereon. Therefore, the device is securely and automatically attached to the load. It can also be seen that the angularly turned upper portion of the connecting bar 27 is sufiiciently long to position the crank bolt 29 forwardly of the pivot bolt 25 when the lever 24 is moved to the load supporting position of FIG. 3 so that the weight being carried will tend to swing the handle 24 forwardly to clamp the connecting bar 27 against the ear 26 to automatically support the load. The load can be released by simply swinging the lever 24 rearwardly to bring the crank bolt to the rear of the dead center between the pivot bolt 25 and the connecting bolt 30.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of theappended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A dolly for lifting a platform comprising:

(1) a horizontal wheel-supported cross frame member;

(2) a vertical guide member fixedlymounted on and extending downwardly from the mid-portion of said cross frame member;

(3) a guide sleeve surrounding said vertical guide member and being vertically movable thereon;

(4) a load element secured to said sleeve and extending forwardly therefrom to lie upon said platform;

(5) a load-supporting shelf secured beneath said load element and extending downwardly and forwardly to pass beneath the bottom of said platform; and

(6) means for raising said sleeve on said guide member to cause said load element and said load-supporting shelf to grip and raise said platform.

2. A dolly for lifting a platform as described in claim I Q 1 in which the means for raising said sleeve comprises:

(1) a hand lever pivoted at its forward extremity on said cross frame member above said sleeve and extending rearwardly; and

(2) a connecting bar pivoted at its upper extremity to said lever and at its lower extremity to said sleeve so that upward and downward movements of said lever will be transmitted as upward and downward movements of said sleeve.

3. A dolly for lifting a platform as described in claim 2 in which the connecting bar has an inverted L-shape so that the pivot at its upper extremity can pass through both the pivot at its lower extremity and the pivot of the hand lever to lock the hand lever in its fully forward position.

4. A dolly for lifting a platform as described in claim 1 in which the load element has a V-shaped and is secured at its apex to said cross frame bar to provide two flaring, forwardly-extending arms, said load-supporting shelf being secured to both arms in a position parallel to said frame bar.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

M. MEHR, Examiner. 

1. A DOLLY FOR LIFTING A PLATFORM COMPRISING: (1) A HORIZONTAL WHEEL-SUPPORTED CROSS FRAME MEMBER; (2) A VERTICAL GUIDE MEMBER FIXEDLY MOUNTED ON AND EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM THE MID-PORTION OF SAID CROSS FRAME MEMBER; (3) A GUIDE SLEEVE SURROUNDING SAID VERTICAL GUIDE MEMBER AND BEING VERTICALLY MOVABLE THEREON; (4) A LOAD ELEMENT SECURED TO SAID SLEEVE AND EXTENDING FORWARDLY THEREFROM TO LIE UPON SAID PLATFORM; (5) A LOAD-SUPPORTING SHELF SECURED BENEATH SAID LOAD ELEMENT AND EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND FORWARDLY TO PASS BENEATH THE BOTTOM OF SAID PLATFORM; AND (6) MEANS FOR RAISING SAID SLEEVE ON SAID GUIDE MEMBER TO CAUSE SAID LOAD ELEMENT AND SAID LOAD-SUPPORTING SHELF TO GRIP AND RAISE SAID PLATFORM. 